There is a need in shooting sports to add dynamism and interactivity over the static presentation of the average shooting range and target systems currently offered. Shooting ranges generally consist of paper and steel targets. Paper targets show penetration marks from the projectiles, but otherwise provide little reactive feedback to the shooter that a hit was registered. Steel targets ping loudly and are often more enjoyable to shoot than paper targets as a result.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,389,049 issued to Hoetger Jul. 12, 2016 relates to a target assembly that uses a pressurized container as a target. The container must be replaced after each strike.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,360,283 issued Jun. 7, 2016 to Tejada, et al., requires punctures in a target in order to detect hits and calculate hit position using cameras as the hit detection sensor. The present target system does not require a camera.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,303,960 issued to Uhr Apr. 5, 2016, relates to an electronic target for use with a pulsed beam of laser light. This target is not suitable for use with physical projectiles.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,303,959 issued to Doria Apr. 5, 2016 relates to a portable paper target and holder, that may further include a non-paper target, which can be a metal plate. No use of an electromagnet is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,170,077 issued to Johnson, et al. Oct. 27, 2015 relates to a shooting target with reactive zones, which is a paper target. The reactive features of the present invention do not include paper or ink.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,163,912 issued to Stark Oct. 29, 2015 relates to a reactive target having a plurality of paddles that rotate around a target arm; impact on a target paddle removes the paddle from the target arm. This patent discloses a dueling mode of operation where a paddle struck on one target assembly can trigger a release of a paddle on a separate target assembly. The present invention does not remove a target when the target is struck, and its dueling mode is software driven.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,157,706 issued to Shea Oct. 13, 2015 relates to a target assembly that provides moving and turning targets. The present invention does not require targets to be in motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,814,168 issued to Davis Aug. 26, 2014 relates to a fluid-filled target that emits colored fluid when struck.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,545,226 issued to Norden, et al., Oct. 1, 2013, relates to a processor-controlled gaming system that relies on image capture to detect the accuracy of a hit.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,523,185 issued to Gilbreath, et al., Sep. 3, 2013 relates to an electronic target shooting system that uses an image capture system, and does not use the target of the present invention. The target in the reference invention does not pivot, and does not involve use of an electromagnet.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,661,679 issued to Mah, et al. Feb. 16, 2010 relates to a shooting target assembly that electronically detects successful shots through the aperture of a target frame, and the frame may have colored lights on its front face. The present invention does not include a frame or aperture, or means of detecting a projectile passing through an aperture.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,175,181 issued to Bateman, et al., Feb. 13, 2007, relates to a portable target that pivots upon being struck, and immediately returns to the original position. This assembly uses two arms with two target plates that swing rearwardly or forwardly. The present invention uses a single arm with a single target plate that pivots rearwardly only and is spring drawn to return to its original position only after it receives an instruction to do so.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,114,725 issued to Camp, et al., Oct. 3, 2006 relates to a vertical rotary shooting target having a stand with a horizontally extending axial [sic] which supports a rotary target structure. The vertical rotary target structure includes a hub rotatably mounted on the axial, a pair of target impact plates, and a support structure connecting the impact plates radially outwardly on diametrically opposed sides of the hub and horizontally spaced relation for enhanced shooting difficulty. The targets in this patent are always visible to the shooter.
The present invention has a single target plate that rotates about 90 degrees and is stopped when it connects with the electromagnet. A advantage of the present invention is that when the target plate is down, it is not visible to the shooter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,479 issued to Ayres Nov. 19, 1996 relates to a projectile impact indicating target that includes a frame, a projectile impact sensor mounted on the frame for sensing projectile impact, and an impact indicator releasably restrained by the projectile impact sensor for indicating projectile impact with the target. This patent uses non-reusable rupturing sensors to indicate impacts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,722 issued to Rosellen Nov. 23, 1993 relates to an automatically resettable target. A plurality of individual targets or bullseyes that are adapted to be thrown out of their normal positions when struck by a bullet or other projectile with the means for automatically resetting the individual targets to their normal positions, also by the impact of a bullet or other projectile which allows for continuous target shooting without the necessity of manually resetting the target apparatus. Plate resetting for the reference is handled by mechanical actuation either by lever or bullet strike. The present plate resets are handled by a solid state electromagnet which when power is turned off the magnet, the target plate is released and a spring draws the plate back to is vertical position.
There are mechanical targets using pneumatic and other piston driven technologies, actuating mechanisms and electric motors to raise and lower a target plate. This helps to provide more interactivity and feedback to the shooter, but these designs are often large, heavy, specialized and expensive to purchase and maintain. Moreover these mechanical targets often have delayed feedback to the shooter due to the target raising and lowering mechanics. What is needed here is a target that when struck provides rapid feedback to the shooter that the target was hit and a rapid rising response to clearly present to the shooter a target is on the range.
Steel targets suffer from the need of continually needing to be refreshed with spray paint in order to see them at longer distances. This can cause delays or even risk to shooters on a range when shooters are walking into the shooting area to repaint a target face.
What is needed is a portable target assembly that reduces the complexity and weight of a mechanical or electrically actuated target system, improves on the feedback and presentation during projectile strikes so that the target face lowers and rises rapidly and can be better visible.
It is also needed at the present time for better portability of targets that can use batteries to power themselves and use RF links to eliminate cables to and from the remote or main controller.